Friday, November 16, 2012

DSA is a part of the
Coalition on Human Needs. ( See list at end of post). We ask that each of
you contact your Senators and Congress people to preserve essential human
needs from Republican budget cuts. Sample letter below. Do not allow the Corporate CEO's who
are funding the Fix the Debt campaign to cut the budgets for poor and working
people.

Last year,
organizations from across the country came together to endorse basic principles
to address America’s short- and long-term economic and budgetary problems. These
are the imperatives of Strengthening America’s Values and Economy (SAVE) for
All: to protect low-income and vulnerable people; promote job creation to
strengthen the economy; increase revenues from fair sources; and seek
responsible savings by targeting wasteful spending in the Pentagon and in other
areas that do not serve the public interest.

We call on you to
follow these principles as you face budgetary decisions of immediate and
long-lasting national consequence. To achieve sustained growth, fiscal stability,
and economic security for all our people we must invest in job creation, ensure
that job seekers have the opportunity to work, and protect vulnerable people
from hardship. We cannot promote the common good by cutting more and more
services and jobs. But we can meet our nation’s needs responsibly by ending tax
reductions benefiting the wealthiest two percent and by seeking savings that do
not compromise human or military security.

Putting the most
vulnerable people at risk is the wrong response to our nation’s fiscal
situation. Automatic cuts to domestic programs that are scheduled to take
effect in January 2013 under the sequestration provisions of the Budget Control
Act will inflict devastating harm. Estimated conservatively, a year of
sequestration cuts1
will deny WIC nutrition aid to 750,000 mothers and young children,
prevent more than 413,000 adults and youth from getting job training and deny
education and training to more than 51,000 veterans, eliminate reading and math
help to more than 1.8 million low-income public school children, deny child
care to the low- to moderate-income families of 80,000 children, stop nearly
34,000 women from being screened for breast and cervical cancer, prevent nearly
27,000 infants and toddlers from benefiting from special education early
intervention services, force 185,000 households to lose rental assistance
vouchers, and stop 734,000 households from receiving home heating and cooling
aid. These are only a few examples of the impact of the scheduled cuts. They threaten
children’s healthy development, deny security to seniors, throw roadblocks in
the way of a competitive labor force, and allow preventable disabilities to
hold back our children.

These and other cuts
have steep costs, among them hundreds of thousands of lost jobs, lagging
productivity, and escalating medical expenditures in the years to come. Coming
on top of cuts written into law through FY 2021 they will drop domestic and
non-military international appropriations to their lowest levels in 50 years as
a share of the economy. Allowing such a wholesale abandonment of investments in
education, preventive health, housing, public infrastructure, and nutrition is
an affront both to conscience and to common sense. We urge
you to avert these sequestration cuts.

The military also
faces cuts under sequestration. To be sure, making automatic, across-the-board
cuts is not the right way to target wasteful military spending. However, if
sequestration were to take effect in 2013 and its cut levels continued
annually, the Pentagon budget in 2021 would still have more funds in real terms
than it had at the Cold War’s height. Military experts and bipartisan leaders,
including members of the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission, have identified
ways to achieve substantial and responsible savings in the Pentagon budget,
while still keeping our service men and women safe, protecting our security,
and maintaining our commitments to veterans. They have recommended cuts over
the next decade well beyond those enacted through spending caps. We urge
you to reject calls to spare the Pentagon by cutting domestic priorities that
threaten our people’s security.

In addition to
rejecting further cuts to domestic discretionary programs below the caps
established in the Budget Control Act, we urge you to protect mandatory
programs essential to Americans’ economic security, including SNAP/food stamps,
Unemployment Insurance, Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits.

There is a better way.
Letting tax cuts that benefit only the richest two percent expire on schedule
would save over $1 trillion in revenues and added interest. This would make it
possible to prevent harm to low-income and vulnerable people and to continue
investments in our economic future – and simply asks the wealthiest among us to
start to pay their fair share of taxes. Our nation’s wealthiest have benefited
disproportionately from the tax reductions enacted since 2001. Since 2004,
millionaires have gained more than $1 million each on average from these tax
cuts. We cannot afford to continue giving tax cuts to those who need them
least.

The tax cut bill
passed by the Senate (S. 3412, the Middle Class Tax Cut Act) would continue the
2001 and 2003 income tax cuts on couples’ incomes up to $250,000 and
individuals’ incomes up to $200,000, but would allow the tax cuts on income
over that amount to expire. In marked contrast, the House-passed bill (H.R. 8,
the misnamed Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012) continues
costly and unneeded tax cuts at the top.

Although some have
claimed that H.R. 8 extends tax cuts for all income levels, in contrast to the
Senate bill, H.R. 8 would allow the expiration of the 2009 improvements in the
Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and the American Opportunity
Tax Credit, which benefit about 25 million Americans with incomes below
$250,000. More than one in three families with children – and three out of four
low-income families with children – would lose tax benefits under H.R. 8. A
full-time minimum wage-earning parent with two children would see her family’s
Child Tax Credit reduced by about $1,500 if H.R. 8 became law. Choosing to impose
such big losses on poor working families while maintaining the tax cuts for the
wealthiest 2 percent is grossly unfair and short-sighted. The 2009 improvements
in the Child Tax Credit and EITC kept 1.6 million people out of poverty and
reduced the severity of poverty for 12.7 million people in 2010, according to
the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Pushing millions of parents and
children back into deeper poverty endangers them and stunts our economy’s
potential. We strongly urge you to support the Senate’s approach, which continues
tax reductions on income up to $250,000 and extends the 2009 improvements in
tax credits for low- and middle-income families.

A balanced approach
that raises revenues, promotes tax fairness, and seeks responsible Pentagon and
other savings will allow us to achieve national goals of economic growth,
economic security for our people, and fiscal stability. We cannot rebuild by
further reducing local, state and federal government workforces, cutting
education, Head Start, employment services, housing and community development,
and other vital public services. Nor can we achieve these goals by slashing
SNAP/food stamps, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare,
and the Affordable Care Act. Please stand with us to SAVE our vital services
and to preserve and expand opportunities so all can share the benefits of
restored prosperity.

1Sources for these estimates
include the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education, Under
Threat: The Impact of Sequestration on Non-Defense Jobs and Services; the
National WIC Association; the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; and the
Coalition on Human Needs’ report, Self-Inflicted Wounds.

NATIONAL SIGNERS

8th Day Center for
Justice 9to5, National Association of Working Women A World Fit For Kids! ACA Adorers
of the Blood of Christ Advocates For The Other America AFL-CIO AIDS Community
Research Initiative of America AIDS Foundation of Chicago AIDS United Alliance
for a Just Society Alliance for Children and Families Alliance for Global
Justice Alliance of Information and Referral Systems American Association of
Service Coordinators American Association of University Women (AAUW) American
Counseling Association American Federation of Government Employees American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) American Friends
Services Committee (AFSC) American Voices Abroad Berlin Americans for
Democratic Action Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center Association
of Farmworker Opportunity Programs Association of University Centers on
Disabilities (AUCD) Baitul Salaam Network, Inc. Benedictines for Peace Bernardine
Center Bread for the World Break the Cycle Campaign for America's Future Campaign
for Community Change Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network for Healthy
Families Catholic Internet Television Network Cenacle Center for American
Progress/Action Fund (CAP/AF) Center for Economic Progress Center for
Partnership Studies Chair of the Global Justice Ministry of the Metropolitan
Community Child Welfare League of America Children's Defense Fund Children's
Defense Fund Southern Regional Office Citizens for Tax Justice CL Enterprises CLASP Coalition
for the Homeless Coalition of Labor Union Women Coalition on Human Needs Code
Pink Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism Community Access National
Network (CANN)

Jesuit Conference Jewish
Women International JPIC Office, Comboni Missionaries Justice Office, Sisters
of Mercy, Mid-Atlantic Community Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation
Commission of the Franciscan Friars Khmer Health Advocates Labor Heritage
Foundation Leadership Conference of Women Religious Leadership of Sisters of
St. Joseph, TOSF LeadingAge Legal Momentum Long Term Care Community Coalition Low
Income Investment Fund Main Street Alliance Marianist Social Justice
Collaborative Medicare Rights Center Mercy Housing Methodist Federation for
Social Action Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart Missionary Sisters of the
Immaculate Conception Murphy Initiative for Justice National Advocacy Center of
the Sisters of the Good Shepherd National AIDS Housing Coalition National
Alliance for Sustainable Communities National Alliance of Community Economic
Development Associations National Alliance of HUD Tenants National Association
for State Community Services Programs National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC) National Association of Commissions for Women (NACW) National
Association of Council for Children National Association of County Human
Services Administrators National Association of Housing and Redevelopment
Officials (NAHRO) National Association of Housing Cooperatives National
Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs (NANASP) National
Association of State Head Injury Administrators National Benedictines For Peace National
Black Child Development Institute National Center for Healthy Housing National
Center for Housing and Child Welfare National Center for Law and Economic
Justice National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence National Center on
Family Homelessness National Coalition Against Domestic Violence National
Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development National Commodity
Supplemental Food Program Association National Community Reinvestment Coalition National
Community Tax Coalition National Congress of American Indians National Council
of Jewish Women National Council of La Raza National Education Association National
Employment Law Project

National Fair Housing
Alliance National Gay and Lesbian Task Force National Health Care for the
Homeless Council National Health Law Program National Housing Law Project National
Housing Trust National Immigration Law Center National Indian and Native
American WIC Coalition National Indian Head Start Directors Association National
Jobs for All Coalition National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health National
Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty National Low Income Housing
Coalition National Migrant Seasonal Head Start Association National Network for
Youth National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) National Organization
for Women National Partnership for Women & Families National People's
Action National Priorities Project National Respite Coalition National Rural
Housing Coalition National Skills Coalition National Urban League National WIC
Association National Women's Conference Committee National Women's Health
Network National Women's Law Center (NWLC) NETWORK, A National Catholic Social
Justice Lobby New England Consortium Regional Poverty Reduction Initiative North
American Pacific/Asian Disciples, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Occupy
DC OMB Watch Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters Paraprofessional Healthcare
Institute (PHI) Partners in Healthy Communities Pax Christi USA Peace Action Planning/Communications Poor
People's Alliance POZ VETS USA Prevent Blindness America Progressive Democrats
of America Progressive Priorities US, LLC Proliteracy Promise the Children Provincial
Council of the Clerics of St. Viator (Viatorians) Racial and Ethnic Health
Disparities Coalition (REHDC) Racine Dominican Sisters Ready Impact Strategies,
LLC Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Research Allies for Lifelong
Learning Responsible Wealth

RESULTS Sargent
Shriver National Center on Poverty Law School Sisters of Notre Dame Central
Pacific Province School Sisters of Notre Dame Leadership Teams of North America School
Social Work Association of America Self Help, Inc. Senior Service America, Inc. Service
Employees International Union (SEIU) Sexuality Information and Education Council
of the United States (SIECUS) Shape Up America! Single Stop USA Sinsinawa
Dominican Leadership Team Sinsinawa Dominicans Sisters of Charity of the
Blessed Virgin Mary Sisters of Mercy Institute Justice Team Sisters of Mercy US
Province Sisters of Mercy West Mid-West Sisters of Notre Dame Sisters of Notre
Dame de Namur USA Sisters of Providence, Mother Joseph Province Sisters of
Saint Ursula, American Region Sisters of Social Service Sisters of St. Francis
of Assisi Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament Society
of St. Vincent de Paul, Our Lady of Fatima Conference Sojourners SouthEastern
Association of Community Action Agencies Southwest Key Programs, Inc. Spanish
Education for Women Stand Up for Rural America Sugar Law Center for Economic
and Social Justice Tekakwitha Conference The Corps Network The Guiding Light
Foundation The Joshua Ministries The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human
Rights The National Council on Independent Living The National Indian Head
Start Directors Association TPA Network Transgender Healthcare Programs Travelers
Aid International Treatment Action Group (TAG) Tribal Elder Productions Tri-State
Coalition for Responsible Investment TURN -The Utility Reform Network U
Enterprise INTL U.S. Citizens for Peace & Justice - Rome U.S. Labor
Against the War (USLAW) UNANIMA International Unitarian Universalist
Association of Congregations United Church of Christ United Church of Christ
Justice and Witness Ministries

United for a Fair
Economy United for Peace and Justice United Neighborhood Centers of America
United Planning Organization US Peace Council USAction Victims of Crisis and
Society (VOCAS) Voices for America's Children Voices for Progress War Resisters
League War Times/Tiempo de Guerras Wealth for the Common Good WellSpring
Resources Western Center on Law and Poverty Western Community Action, Inc. Wider
Opportunities for Women Women's Action for New Directions Women's Committee of
100 Working America World Knowledge Bank Xaverian Brothers YouthBuild USA YWCA
Central Carolinas YWCA USA

Adopt-A-Family of the
Palm Beaches, Inc. Catalyst Miami Catholic Charities Housing, Diocese of
Venice, Inc. Center for Independent Living of South Florida, Inc. Children's
Services Council of Broward County Community Coalition on Homelessness

Absolute Air accessABILITY Alternatives
Incorporated of Madison County By the Lagoon Consulting Communities That Care Community
Action of Greater Indianapolis Community and Family Services, Inc. Gamma Psi
Omega Chapter; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Greater Hammond Community
Services, Inc. Guadalupe Center Housing Authority City of Richmond Indiana
Association for Community Economic Development Indiana Catholic Conference/Cass
County Mary Magdala Catholic Community Middle Way House Muncie Delaware County
Senior Citizens Center Northwest Indiana Community Action Open Door Health
Services Pax Christi of Indianapolis, IN Sisters of St. Francis of Oldenburg
Leadership Team Sojourner Truth House St. Mary of Magdala Catholic Community Support
Your President

Sisters if St. Joseph
of Boston Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield Soc. of St. Vincent de Paul Social
Workers for Peace and Justice Somerville Homeless Coalition Inc. Springfield
Partners for Community Action St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church Survivors Inc. United
Auto Workers Massachusetts State CAP Council Watertown Citizens for Peace,
Justice and Environment Woonsocket Head Start Child Development Association,
Inc. Workforce Learning Strategies YWCA of Central Massachusetts

Blue Valley Community
Action Partnership Center for People in Need Centro Hispano Comunitario de
Nebraska Community Action of Nebraska Community Action Partnership of Mid-NE
Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska Financial Hope Collaborative

Nebraska Chapter of
the National Association of Social Workers Nebraska Housing Developers
Association Piper Farms Sisters of Mercy West Mid-West Justice Team

University of Nebraska
at Omaha

Nevada

Family Promise of Las
Vegas Life Peace & Justice Commission of the Diocese of Reno Nevada
Public Health Foundation Nevada Rural Housing Authority

2 & 4 River
Road Association Action for a Better Community, Inc. AIDS Center of Queens
County, Inc. Albany Community Land Trust Albany County Legislature All Souls
Parish/Presbyterian Church Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse
Antiracist Alliance Association to Benefit Children Barb Lamphere Consulting Barrier
Free Living Belmont Housing Resources for WNY, Inc. Big Apple Coffee Party Blauvelt
Dominican Sisters Social Justice Committee Broadway Community Inc. BronxWorks,
Inc. Brooklyn Food Coalition Brooklyn For Peace Center for Sustainable Living Central
New York Citizens in Action, Inc. Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. Chemung County
(NY) Housing Coalition Child Care Council of Suffolk, Inc. Children's Defense
Fund - New York Church Women United of New York State CIDNY

CitiWide Harm
Reduction Citizen Action of New York Citizens' Committee for Children City of
Hornell Housing Authority Claire Heureuse Community Center, Inc. Coalition of
N.E. Association, Inc. College Avenue Tenant Association Community Food
Advocates Community Resource Exchange Coney Island Generation Gap Creative
Learning Center Crestwood Children's Center Delaware Opportunities Inc. Disabled
in Action Disabled in Action of Greater Syracuse Inc. Early Care &
Learning Council Early Childhood Development Initiative Early Childhood
Education Quality Council Ecclesia Ministries of New York Educational
Consulting Resources Elder Options Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies First
Baptist Church of Central Square Flatbush Farmshare CSA Food Bank of Central
New York Fort Greene Peace Fox House Goldstein Hall PLLC Good Shepherd Services Greater
New York Labor-Religion Coalition Greenberg Housing Authority (GHA) Health
& Welfare Council of Long Island Heart of the City Neighborhoods, Inc. Helping
Hands for the Disabled of NYC Hillside Family of Agencies Homeless Services
United Homsite Human Development Services of Westchester Human Services Council
of NY Hunger Action Network of NYS Hunger Solutions New York Independent Living
Center - Troy Independent Living Inc. Interfaith Impact of New York State JCCRP JCEO
of Clinton and Franklin Counties, Inc. Jewish Community Council of Greater
Coney Island Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County JP Resident
Council/BMHA KCSound Kids R Kids Feeding Program La Fuerza Unida, Inc. La
Verite Youth Services Inc.

Lawyers For Children Let
Justice Roll - Rochester Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives Long
Island Minority AIDS Coalition LSA Family Health Service, Inc. Marathon
Development Group Mohawk Valley CAA Nativity BVM Church Nazareth Housing Inc. NCJW,
Greater Rochester Section Neighborhood Family Services Coalition Neighborhood
Preservation Coalition of NYS New Destiny Housing Corporation New York City
Coalition Against Hunger New York Faith & Justice New York State
Alliance for Retired Americans New York State Tenants & Neighbors
Coalition Newman Oratory of Brockport NOLSW/UAW Local 2320 Northern Manhattan
Perinatal Partnership, Inc. OAR Partners in Learning, Inc. Partnership for the
Public Good PathStone Corporation Pax Christi Maryknoll Pax Christi Metro New
York Peace Action New York State Pratt Area Community Council Pro Action of
Steuben & Yates, Inc. Project Renewal Inc. RCIL Reaching-Out Community
Services Inc Rekindling Reform RESULTS of Western New York Rochester Childfirst
Network Safe Harbors of the Hudson, Inc. Senior Legislative Action Committee,
Sullivan County NY Siena House, Inc. Sisters of Mercy New York, Pennsylvania,
Pacific West Community Leadership Team Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet,
Albany Province Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester Leadership Team Sisters of
the Divine Compassion Sisters of the Good Shepherd - Astoria, NY Somos la Llave
del Futuro, Inc. South Shore Child Guidance Center St. James Peace and Justice
Committee St. John's Outreach Center St. Lawrence County Community Development
Program/ Head Start St. Mary's Food Pantry St. Paul's United Methodist Church
Mission Office Supportive Housing Network of New York Synapses Dance Ensemble TAG
Treatment Action Group

Tioga Peace and
Justice United Community Baptist Church, Inc. United University Professions Urban
Justice Center UUCSR - Women's Group VFP Chapter 34 Violence Intervention
Program Volunteers of America - Greater New York, Inc. War Resisters League Wayside
MacDonough Residence West Side Campaign Against Hunger Westchester Community
Opportunity Program, Inc. Western New York Peace Center, Inc. Women In Need Women's
City Club of New York Workforce Investment Board YWCA of Binghamton and Broome
County YWCA of Brooklyn YWCA of Cortland YWCA of Jamestown YWCA Of Rochester
& Monroe County YWCA of Schenectady YWCA of the City of New York YWCA
of the Greater Capital Region, Inc. YWCA of WNY YWCA Orange County YWCA
Tonawandas YWCA Westfield

North Carolina

Action for Children
North Carolina AFUMC MOET Brick Capital Community Development Corporation Children
First/Communities In Schools of Buncombe County Community Home Trust GB
Property Management, FLP Greensboro Housing Coalition Johnston-Lee-Harnett
Community Action, Inc. NC Housing Coalition NC Justice Center North Carolina
Community Action Association North Carolina Council of Churches North Carolina
Council of Educational Opportunity Programs North Carolina Justice Center Olive
Hill Community Economic Development Corporation Poz Charlotte Queen of the
Apostles Justice and Peace Committee RESULTS Asheville, NC Group River City
Community Development Corporation River of Water (R.O.W.) Ministries Senior Tar
Heel Legislature Sisters of Mercy South Central Community Statesville Housing
Authority

SEIU Local 668 Sisters
of Mercy New York, Pennsylvania, Pacific West Community Justice Team Sisters of
Saint Joseph of Chestnut Hill Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God Sisters
of St. Joseph Northwest Pennsylvania South Central Pennsylvania RESULTS St.
Ambrose Manor St. Peter's Food Pantry Thomas Merton Center Trinity Soup Kitchen United
Way of Beaver County Warren Forest Counties Economic Opportunity Council West
Chester Food Cupboard Westmoreland Community Action Westmoreland County Food
Bank Women Against Abuse Women's International League for Peace and
Freedom/Pittsburgh YWCA Gettysburg & Adams County YWCA Lancaster YWCA
Northcentral PA YWCA of Greater Harrisburg YWCA Tri-County Area Housing
Authority of Beaver County

Children's Alliance Clallam
County Council of MoveOn.org Community Action Center Whitman County Community
Assistance Program Community Frameworks DEVA Enterprise, LLC Doctors for
America, Washington State Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) Economic
Opportunity Institute Filipino-American Political Action Group of Washington